Club Soccer Crossroads: Realistic Consumer Goals

Article From Top Drawer Soccer
Exact Link: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/component/option,com_topdrawer/Itemid,251/nid,7505/ 

Written by Robert Ziegler, ESNN January 02, 2009

Realistic goals for consumers in the American youth soccer market

We've talked about the importance of clubs setting up business models and producing delivery systems that sustain economic viability. There has to be something on the ground that truly develops young playing talent at the various levels youth soccer families might bring to the marketplace. But this has to be done in a way that provides financial benefit for those doing the work of developing.

So if we assume that the economic benefit needs to be there (and to disagree means you are looking for a magical pot of gold to fund it all and this simply does not exist), how then can we know that what is being offered is the right thing?

It's a tougher question than you might think. It involves discernment and some degree of soccer intelligence on the part of soccer parents and players, but it also involves parents having a realistic expectation of what they are going to get out of the club soccer experience. And a willingness of club leadership to give a straight assessment of what should be expected.

Will these players receive college scholarships?

The numbers don't lie. In our TeamRank™ section on TopDrawerSoccer.com we rate approximately 2,500 teams. There are many more "travel" or "select" teams than this, but this gives us the most successful and serious Boys and Girls teams from age groups U13 to U18 across the country. If we conservatively list 15 players for each of these teams, we are talking about 37,500 players in club soccer at a time.

Now in DI college soccer, there are just more than 500 teams for Men and Women combined. If we count 20 players per DI roster that's 10,000 players at a time in top-tier college soccer. Now our TeamRank™ covers six age groups so if you cut that by a third it's still 24-25,000 players. But then again, there's only enough full scholarship money available for half of the 10,000 players we mentioned (at the most optimistic estimate). Even adding scholarships available at DII, basically more than half of the players in the top of club soccer WILL NOT have scholarship money waiting for them when they get to the college years.

Now how many of the 37,500 are thinking at some point that they WILL be getting scholarship money? If you said most of them I think that is the correct answer.

So parents need to be a bit more realistic about the opportunities awaiting them, and clubs need to give an honest appraisal about the lay of the land in the marketplace where they operate. It's true there are many other potential benefits for young people in playing club soccer, but I also know it's true that for the bill-paying parents, college opportunities are first and foremost on their minds. So a little wake-up call is in order.

I believe if players and parents have a proper perspective about what is out there, what their ambitions are, and what their true potential is in the game, it would solve a lot of the problems currently present regarding expectations, disappointment and promises made in the club soccer world. I see at least three main tiers in the soccer marketplace, but often the promotion and marketing act as if there is just one. There are players who think they are in the elite tier but are really in the middle, or "travel" tier. There are players who are in the "travel" tier who really are in the recreational tier talent-wise.

Confusion about the above leads to some of the ugliest scenes in the youth soccer world. Some parents are unable or unwilling to accept the fact that their child is just not good enough to warrant that high rating, team selection or college scholarship offer. It's a reflection of our society and not peculiar to soccer that some parents will continue to lobby and/or manipulate the process to make it happen for their kid. As a parent this bothers me because we need to raise our children to understand and deal with disappointments, not simply deny them or point fingers at somebody who "did something to me." From a soccer perspective this tends to make a very unhealthy, unpleasant atmosphere that removes the joy of simply playing the game, and even undermines the development process.

Along with being realistic about expectations and opportunity, parents also need to educate themselves about what they are actually looking for in prime player development. Again, I don't want to condemn by association because there are many coaches who offer a sincerely good product and care about what they are doing, but there is a history of youth coaching practices where parents are sold on the idea of winning matches at 10, 11 and 12 years old, but the true work of player development isn't being done. Often in those cases by the time people figure out they never learned how to play, it's too late to fix it, leaving another cycle of parents to come through and line somebody's pockets.

In our next two articles, we will look at what proper club structure and business modeling looks like, as well as what we should look for in the actual player development work at your club.